The Coach's Daughter

Chapter 38

[Recap]

"Do you want to go to sleep?" Charlie asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

I shook my head. "I wanna talk."

"Okay, about what?" Charlie asked.

"My mom."

[End of recap]

Charlie nodded, letting me know it was okay to continue.

"When I was eight, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She went through chemotherapy, got treatments, lost her hair, everything that comes from the disease. When I was 10, we found out that her last series of treatments had gotten rid of most of the cancer. The doctors predicted that she would need one more series of treatments, and then she would start the remission process. We were all excited. We wouldn't have to worry about her dying for awhile.

"One Friday night, my parents and I were going to have a movie night, to celebrate my mom's soon to be remission. My father had gone out to pick up some movies, but had left his cell phone at home. We didn't have any popcorn, and I really wanted some. So my mom took her car, and went out to the general store to get some popcorn. Five minutes after she left, my father came home. When he realized mom wasn't home, I explained to him where she went, he relaxed and we started preparing some drinks, snacks, the movies, and our little pile of blankets and pillows on the couch.

"The store my mom went to, wasn't very far away, and after a half hour, I could tell that he had gotten worried. He called her cell phone, but she didn't answer. A police officer did.

"He... he told my dad that... my mom had gotten hit by a drunk driver while coming home... She was killed on impact." Tears were streaming down my face, because of what I was going to say next. Charlie wrapped his arms around me, soothingly rubbing my back.

"Charlie, i-it was m-my f-fault she died. If I hadn't a-asked f-for popcorn she w-wouldn't have b-been on the r-road to g-get hit-" I started sobbing, and buried my face in Charlie's chest.

"Anna, stop. It's not your fault she died-"

"But-"

"No buts. It wasn't your fault. It was the drunk driver's fault. Not yours," Charlie argued.

I slowly stopped crying, and sighed, knowing he was right. "The thing we all thought was going to kill her, didn't. A car crash did," I whispered.

"I know Anna, I know. It's going to be okay. You're so strong Anna," Charlie whispered in my ear, holding me close to him. I leaned into him, letting him comfort me.

We sat like that for awhile, holding each other.

"Charlie, how are you feeling about your family?" I asked him, pulling away slightly.

"it's hard. But I'm glad that my parents are trying to fix it, instead of give up," Charlie replied.

"How are you feeling though?" I questioned.

"I'm okay. I'm scared about what's going to happen in the future. I'm worried about Dani and how she is and how this is going to affect her and Jasper. I'm wondering about how I'm going to handle school, going to state, and the new responsibilities at home."

I nodded and said, "I'll always be here for you. I can and want to help out with the twins. And anything else you need. Everything will turn out okay in the end. Dani is strong, Charlie. She can get through this. She's gonna need us though. Especially you Jasper, and your father."

Charlie nodded. "I know." I smiled at him, and gently squeezed his hand.

Yawning, I looked at my clock, an saw that it was just after two in the morning.

Charlie pulled the blankets over me and said, :Go to sleep Anna. I'll be downstairs."

"Please stay," I asked.

"Anna," Charlie sighed.

"Please?"

"Okay," Charlie gave up. "Let me go grab some blankets and pillows."

I nodded and pulled my blanket up to cover my shoulders.

Charlie left, and a few minutes later, he returned, and made himself a bed on the floor.

"Charlie, what are you doing?" I questioned.

"Making myself a bed."

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Because your father is in the other room," Charlie replied, looking at me.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Charlie laid down, facing me. "Goodnight Anna. I love you," he smiled.

"'Night Charlie. I love you," I responded, grinning.

For the first time, I fell asleep, knowing everything would be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys!!

this is the last chapter before the epilogue.

I'm really excited to finally finish this story. I've been working on it for so long, and it feels good to complete it.

do you guys have any questions? I might be able to answer them in the epilogue, so please comment and ask them if you do.

So you finally know what happened to Anna's mom! Some of you guessed it! it was a car crash.

Dedicated to

GOALS:

Votes: 30

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Question of the Chapter!:

What's your favorite type of fruit? Mine would have to be either strawberries, green apples, or pomegranates.:)

Thank you all for reading, voting, and telling your friends about my story. It means so much to me that you guys have stuck with my story. Thank you for all of you who were reading from the very beginning, who were constantly voting and commenting, and those of you who got the reads on this story to over 40,000. I honestly thought nobody would read my story, and I'm so thankful for all of you who did decide to read my story.

Epilogue will be up sometime soon.

Thanks for reading!! :)